The present invention relates to a single-step, continuous, vapor phase process for producing alcohols by reacting olefins with carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
The catalytic hydroformylation of olefins to produce aldehydes and by-product alcohols is well known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,880,241, 3,937,742, 4,018,834, 3,544,635 and 4,045,492.
Unfortunately, most processes produce a comparatively great amount of aldehydes and a correspondingly low amount of alcohols. In addition, most known processes produce a comparatively large amount of paraffins as by-products. Furthermore, most processes are conducted in the liquid phase in batch operation, which makes separation of the products from the reactants and catalysts difficult.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new process for catalytically reacting olefins with carbon monoxide and hydrogen to produce alcohols which is capable of producing alcohols in large amounts with limited production of parafins and which can be carried out in the vapor phase on a continuous basis.